


Chanukah Fest 2014

by forbala



Series: Jewish works [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: I cry every day over Jewish headcanons, Jewish Character, Jewish Holidays, John isn't the best dad in this but he tries, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Minor Malia Tate/Kira Yukimura, Minor Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-19 23:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11908488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forbala/pseuds/forbala
Summary: Vignettes during Chanukah. In which Stiles is Jewish.





	1. Prompt: Family

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Chanukah Fest 2014 on tumblr. I don't know that I ever posted this but I found it in my files so here it is.

Stiles, like his mother, is Jewish. The problem is that his dad never was; he was agnostic. John converted for Claudia Stilinski but his heart was never in it and after her death, John didn’t want to see anything that could remind him of Claudia, and that included Judaism. But for Stiles, his religion is the last strong connection he has to his late mother and he wants to keep that alive. So, he practices in secret, as much as an eight-year-old knows how. He never attends synagogue, not once between the time of his mother’s death and the time he’s fourteen and is able to bike over there without the Sheriff worrying, but he prays and practices. He misses a formal bar mitzvah but he teaches himself some Hebrew with the little children’s books his mom had. But he practices what Hebrew he can and he reads the Bible on occasion and he prays a lot. John knows, of course he knows, but he doesn’t say anything; he lets Stiles practice. And Stiles starts going exclusively by his already popular nickname, instead of the Hebrew given name that his mother loved, because that part is too painful for him and his dad both. When he gets a little older, he can bike to synagogue alone and he talks with the rabbi when he can. They email a lot. The old grandmothers at synagogue adopt him, so to speak, and they give him presents whenever he comes by, and extra helpings on his plate at the oneg after services.

During high school, he practices more and more because of the extended freedom he gets with age. He has his first adult Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He has a small, belated bar mitzvah one Saturday with the rabbi’s extensive help and support, two years after he should have had it but that’s okay; he’s still happy beyond words. He gets to read before the congregation and his adopted family all pitch in to make a special lunch in his honor, and Scott and Mrs. McCall are there, kippot on askew, looking confused, and trying desperately to follow along in the big red Etz Hayim and the smaller blue Siddur.

One Chanukah, Scott gives him a small menorah, a chanukkiah, with the allowance money he saved up. Stiles cries and they hug and Stiles hides it in his closet with all his Hebrew books and his Tanakh. He knows there is a chanukkiah, a family heirloom, in the attic among all of the rest of Claudia’s things, but he can’t bear to go looking for it.

And so it goes.

But then Scott gets bitten and the werewolves start popping up all over town, and worse things too, and Stiles doesn’t go to synagogue as often, but he would like to, oh would he like to. He talks to his rabbi about kosher magic and they look through some texts on mysticism. Stiles doesn’t worry about it too much; he knows that saving his friends’ lives is what matters most and that G-d will forgive him for a little pagan magic, but he tries to make it as kosher as possible and says short prayers after he performs it.

And finally, the supernatural hellscape evens out and things return to some semblance of normality, and he goes to synagogue a lot more, more than ever, and prays more than ever, especially after the incidents with the nemeton and the nogitsune. He can’t seem to pray enough. He prays at every meal. He prays every morning and every night. He wears a Magen David and a hamsa on a chain around his neck constantly and considers tattooing them on his skin but scraps the idea almost immediately. He wears a thick leather bracelet with a traveler’s prayer. He prays so hard sometimes he cries.

And he gets through it.


	2. Prompt: Candles

Scott opens the front door to Stiles’ house without knocking and Stiles embraces him warmly. “Hey, dude. Come on, the chanukkiah is right in here.” They walk into the living room, where the menorah Scott bought him rests on the table by the window, candles in place and waiting to be lit.

Scott always comes over for the first and last nights of Chanukah so Stiles has someone to celebrate the festival of lights with. Meanwhile, the Sheriff goes over to the McCalls’ and has dinner with Melissa—that is, if he’s not working, which he usually is. This way, the Sheriff doesn’t have to see Stiles taking part in his Jewish heritage and Stiles has something like family around him.

Stiles is happy to see Scott again. They had chosen different colleges, Stiles staying in state to go to the University of California Berkeley while Scott moved across the country to attend Boston University. They game online often and Skype occasionally, but it’s not the same and nothing can beat face-to-face interaction. Stiles will be glad to visit with his home pack; he and the others had been adopted by local packs at their respective colleges, but it’s not the same as having your original pack around you.  
Stiles lights the helper candle, the shamash, and then lights the first candle on the far right, reciting the blessings as he does so: “Barukh atah Adonai…” They spend a long minute looking at the light of the first candle, quiet and reverent, after Stiles finishes the three blessings.

When they finish, they go into the kitchen, leaving the candles to burn themselves out, and Stiles serves them latkes with applesauce and chicken noodle soup. They eat and eat until they’re too full, then play dreidel, gambling with chocolate coins and M&M’s, laughing at each other at each loss and eating candy until they feel sick.  
This is the one time when Stiles actually feels happy in his life every year, especially the past few difficult years. With the struggles they had to endure, Stiles values his Jewish celebrations even more than ever, especially the upbeat holidays like Chanukah.

Eventually, the candles burn themselves out and Scott and Stiles retire to Stiles’ room to play a round of video games, taking up the menorah as they go so the Sheriff won’t have to look at it.


	3. Prompt: Victory

The next morning, Stiles goes over to the old, rebuilt Hale house. He drives the Jeep up the dirt path and parks in the front yard. The rest of the pack is already there, Scott’s motorcycle and Boyd’s sedan already parked and cold. Stiles takes a moment to simply appreciate the rebuilt exterior; white vinyl siding and a great front porch, bigger than the original. The many windows let in a lot of light throughout the day and the large front porch has a lot of seating for enjoying the last rays of sunlight each night.

Stiles gets out of his car and walks up to the house, entering without knocking, knowing the wolves can hear and smell him anyway.

He makes an immediate right into the dining room, where the pack is seated around the large table eating breakfast—pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, omelets, bacon, doughnuts, various sugary cereals, orange juice, apple juice, grapefruit juice, milk, and more. Stiles playfully punches Scott in the arm and grabs a plate, piles it high with pancakes and scrambled eggs, pours on a diabetic amount of syrup, and digs in.

Moments later, Derek comes in from the kitchen with a fresh omelet for himself and sits right across from Stiles. “Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” Stiles says, and they both pretend his heart doesn’t flutter at the sight of the former alpha. He turns to his right, to Erica, and asks her how she’s been.

“Classes are going well, thank G-d. Boyd got a 4.0 this semester, which brings his GPA up to—what is it now? 3.5?”

“3.64,” Boyd corrects.

“I’m so proud,” Erica says, beaming at her boyfriend. The two of them are in school at UCLA, as is Malia. Isaac goes to Boston with Scott and Allison is at Harvard. Lydia, of course, is at MIT, and Kira is at Tufts. Stiles has to admit how jealous he is that so many of his friends are in Massachusetts together, but he likes Berkeley and his new friends there, and he’s never very far from Erica, Boyd, Malia, or home.

When the pack is done eating, they retire to the den and pile onto the couches and each other. Erica sits on Boyd’s lap and nuzzles him, scenting him. Beside him are Lydia and Allison, who don’t have any need to scent each other but curl up together anyway. Next is Scott and Isaac, who curl up close to each other and their other partner Allison, Isaac with his head tucked up under Scott’s chin and Scott with his arm around Allison’s waist. Then there’s Kira and Malia, and Malia is scenting Kira like she’s never seen her girlfriend before, and then Stiles and Derek are wedged in the corner together.

Derek gets up to put on a movie (X-Men: First Class), then resettles on the couch beside Stiles, too close because the couch is one iota too small for the whole group.

“So, how’s it going?” Stiles asks Derek, awkward as ever. Stiles had been half in love with Derek for years but neither of them has ever mentioned it. Stiles knows that Derek knows, can tell from his elevated heartbeat every time he sees the wolf and Stiles is probably releasing a ton of pheromones, Derek can probably smell it for miles, but Derek has never said anything about it and so Stiles doesn’t either. Derek obviously doesn’t feel the same way or he would say something.

“Uh, yeah, it’s been pretty good. Hey, happy Chanukah, by the way.”

“Oh. Thanks. And uh, good. Good that it’s good.”

“How is school going?” Derek asks.

“It’s good. I got an A in my family life class and a B+ in my sociology theory course.”

“Oh, good job. You’re studying law, right?”

“Yeah, well, I’m doing a sociology major but I’m pre-law. My hope is to get into the UC Berekeley School of Law and then become a prosecutor.”

“Okay. That sounds good.”

“Yeah.”

And the conversation dies.

~

Later, once the movie is over and the pack is pretty much done scenting one another, they go outside and Stiles, Lydia, and Allison watch the others fight and race, leaping and punching and howling loudly either in victory or pain. Most of all, they watch the pack bond again. There is laughter, too, amongst the shouts of pain and the grunts of effort. Erica pins Kira, but Malia throws her off immediately and kisses Kira—too long, it turns out, as Isaac flies in from the right and knocks them both to the ground.  
Stiles chuckles at the puppy-like antics and nibbles from a bag of chips, passes it to Lydia who immediately passes it to Allison without eating from it. Lydia rests her head on Stiles’ shoulder and he rests his head on hers as they watch the pups play.

Finally, it is down to Derek and Boyd fighting, the others having trailed off to the front porch to rest. Boyd makes a feint but Derek sees through it and is able to knock Boyd to the ground. He doesn’t crow in victory, like Scott might’ve, but helps Boyd to his feet and they pat each other fraternally while making their way to the porch.

“Go wash up,” Derek says. “You’re all filthy.”

The pups grumble but obey, filing up the stairs to the showers on the second floor. Erica and Boyd have their own room up there, as do Isaac and Malia. Derek had made sure there would be plenty of space for everyone when he rebuilt the place.

Stiles watches them go, Derek taking up the rear, and goes with Lydia and Allison to the kitchen to make lunch while the others wash.


	4. Prompt: Sundown

Stiles makes a frankly delicious, if you ask him, salad for lunch while Allison fixes chicken fingers and Lydia makes homemade French fries, cutting the potatoes and laying them on a layer of aluminum on top of a cookie sheet. Allison sets the table while Lydia finishes up the fries and chicken, and Stiles makes lemonade (not homemade).  


Before long, the pups come thundering downstairs and file directly into the dining room. Having smelled food, they knew exactly what to do. They grab their plates from the dining room and go into the kitchen next door to fill them. And they know enough not to refuse Stiles’ salad, either, which they actually enjoy once they take that reluctant first bite.

This time, Derek sits right beside Stiles and Stiles is marveling at the cruelty of the universe as they talk.

“You guys looked good out there,” Stiles says. “I mean—uh, you looked like you were having a lot of fun.”

“Yeah,” Derek responds with a soft smile. “It’s nice to have the pack back together again.”

“That it is,” Stiles agrees, also smiling. They sit for a moment, smiling at each other, until Stiles awkwardly breaks eye contact and stares at his plate for the rest of the meal.

After the meal, the pack gathers again in the den to watch tv and play board games and scent each other some more. Stiles wins at Clue twice in a row but loses Life to Erica.

Finally, after a few hours of relaxed play, Stiles levers himself up off the floor and says, “I have to get home. It’s almost sundown.”

“Why’s that?” Malia asks from the couch, where she is playing Pokémon on her DS. She was still catching up on things she had missed while she was lost in the woods.

“I need to go light the Chanukah candles.”

“Oh, yeah. Bye.”

Stiles rolls his eyes and chuckles, says his goodbyes, goes to the foyer to grab his jacket. He starts to step out the door when suddenly a hand on his shoulder stops him. He turns to see Derek, of all people.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Stiles asks.

“Just, um, happy Chanukah.” Derek looks shy, a slight blush on his cheeks, but Stiles can’t figure out why.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll see you.” And he leaves, gets home in time to light the candles alone.


	5. Prompt: Gifts

Stiles sleeps in late the next day and wakes up slowly. It is the first time he’s slept past eight in weeks, thanks to his hectic school schedule and his finals. He takes a shower, using the unscented products Derek had introduced them all to years ago. Then he goes downstairs to the kitchen and spends over an hour wrapping gifts for the pack, since they’re doing a gift exchange tonight at Scott’s.

He arrives at Scott’s with two large bags of gifts and manages to nudge open the door and barge inside. Already there are Allison and Isaac; Kira and Malia arrive shortly after and then Lydia, and finally Erica, Boyd, and Derek arrive. They settle in together in the living room, some on the couch and others on chairs they pulled in from the kitchen.

Scott got Stiles the Game of the Year version of Fallout New Vegas and Stiles got him the newest Call of Duty. Stiles got books for most of the rest of the pack; you can’t go wrong with books. He gives Derek his gift with sweaty palms and racing heart. He hopes Derek likes it.

Derek looks into the box and picks up the gift: a silk painted scarf that Stiles spent hours picking out. “Thank you, Stiles,” he says. “It’s beautiful. Here, take your gift.”  
Stiles takes the small box from Derek, brushing his hand in the process. Stiles blushes and doesn’t look at Derek as he opens the box to reveal a wooden wolf’s head with a large flower behind one ear. “Wow, Derek, this is amazing.”

“Yeah. I made it. It’s supposed to represent the pack and you being the emissary.”

“I love it. Thank you,” Stiles says, smiling in wonder. He’s astounded that Derek would give him such a personal gift. He doesn’t know how to feel or what it means.

“You’re welcome.” Stiles looks up at him and notices Derek is blushing. Now Stiles is really confused, but he ignores it for the time being and hands a gift over to Malia.


	6. Prompt: Miracle

Stiles is reciting the blessings over the Chanukah candles when he hears a knock at the door. He finishes the blessings and goes to answer it. On the other side, of all people, is Derek.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Stiles asks. “Nothing bad, I hope?”

“No, nothing bad. I just wanted to come over and talk to you about something.”

“Okay, sure.” Stiles steps aside and Derek comes in, looks at the menorah.

“Was I interrupting?” he asks, suddenly nervous. Stiles doesn’t understand his strange behavior of late, how he blushes and looks out of place all the time.

“No, I just finished lighting the candles. Sit down,” he says, sitting on the couch. Derek does the same, barely; he sits on the edge of the couch and looks ready to bolt any moment.

Stiles waits for Derek to speak but he never does. After several minutes, Stiles starts to fidget and says, “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I guess—I was wondering if you’d…” Derek stops, frustrated, runs his hands through his hair and stands up. He starts to pace, stops, starts again, stops. Finally he looks at Stiles, marches across the room, pulls Stiles up with a tight grip on his arms, and kisses him hard.

Stiles is surprised. He freezes, but not for long. He puts his hands on Derek’s waist and kisses him back.

Shortly, Derek pulls away and, voice gruff and breathy, says, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Stiles leans in to kiss him again, but Derek turns his head so that Stiles gets only his stubbled cheek—Stiles can’t say he’s particularly upset about getting his mouth on that strong, rough jaw, but he would like to kiss some more.

“Wait, just, wait a minute,” Derek goes on. He pulls away completely and Stiles feels the loss deep down in his bones. “I want to take you out. I want to take you on a date. I came here to ask you out. So, will you go to dinner with me sometime?”

“Yes, Derek. Of course,” Stiles says. Then he puts out his hand and Derek takes it and they sit together on the couch and kiss again. 

They make out until the Chanukah candles are burnt out and Derek hears the Sheriff pull up. When he comes inside and sees Derek there, he gets this look in his eye and simply says, “It’s about time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I never wrote nights 7 and 8, apparently, so I'll just end it here. Chag chanukah sameach! (As I'm posting this in August, I guess it's a bit early, but there you go lol)


End file.
